


Pride as Family

by BrownieFox



Series: Platonic VLD Week [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Day 3, Fluff, Gen, Platonic VLD Week, Shiro POV, Team as Family, lions/bonding, platonic, they're cute together, what does it mean to have a good bond with them?, what is is like to pilot giant lions?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-27 14:45:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10026446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrownieFox/pseuds/BrownieFox
Summary: The team practices looking through the eyes of their lions.





	

The castle had been in desperate need of repairs. The crew of the Castle of Lions had decided to land on an abandoned, cratered moon. Allura and Coran set to work updating what needed to be updated and finally putting an official wall where the previous one had been decimated. This left the paladins with the rare occasion where they weren’t doing anything in particular. Naturally, they all had different things that they wanted to do with the free day. Pidge wanted to help with the repairs, Lance wanted to sleep and then try out the Altean pool one more time (he claims to be finally getting the hang of it), Hunk had found some spices from storage and was eager to try them out, and Keith had just gone up a level against the gladiator.

Shiro, however, had made the decision that they wouldn’t do any of that. With ever passing day the Galra Empire expanded its reach and grew stronger. If the Paladins ever wanted to come out on top, they needed to be better, and for that they needed to be a team. But Shiro also knew that all of them were exhausted from team building exercises that were done on the ship. The mind-meld head-hole thing was getting increasingly harder as with every practice their bond got deeper… and the paladins became more determined to keep their most important secrets and thoughts to themselves, including Shiro. The protect-your-fellow-paladins and the gladiator only got increasingly harder, and the last time it had been put on the table for training Hunk looked like he was able to have a breakdown. As for the invisible maze, Coran said they weren’t allowed to move onto the next level until everyone had gone through it with a different teammate, and Lance refused to be given directions by Keith again, and that would probably last a while.

But now that they were settled for a bit, perhaps they could place all of those things to the side for a while.

All five of the lions stood in front of the castle. Shiro closed his eyes, first focusing on the bond between him and the other paladins. It was weak and frail, but with a little effort he could distantly feel their emotions. Then he turned inward, feeling the connection he had with the Black Lion. She responded readily with a distant rumble in the back of his head.

“Okay Coran,” Shiro said, keeping his eyes closed. “Put our helmets into training mode.”

“Training mode activated.” The black paladin didn’t bother to see his helmet go completely opaque. Pulling gently on the bond between him and Black, he fell into her and stared out at the bleak moon through her eyes.

“Do you guys have it yet?” Shiro asked and looked at the lions to his left and right. THe Yellow lion was shifting around and the Green one was looking up at the stars curiously. The Blue lion was bobbing her head up and down  and the Red lion simply stared back at Shiro.

“I’ve got it.” Keith was the only one to respond, seeing as the answer was fairly obvious.

“This is so… weird.” Lance replied. 

“Now what?” Pidge’s lion turned to look at Shiro. “Do we form Voltron?”

“I was thinking we’d do something a bit more… fun.” Shiro smiled from inside his lion and sent a wave of cheerfulness through the paladin bond as best he could. “Did any of your guys play Cops and Robbers back on Earth?”

oOo

The Black lion lept out from its hidden position behind the end of a crater and locked its mouth around the neck of the Green lion, throwing the smaller robot into the air.

“Ha, got you Pidge!” Shiro shouted as the Pigde’s lion activated her rockets and made a controlled landing back to the ground. “You know the rules, get over to the castle.”

“Aw c’mon, this isn’t fair. We all know you have the best bond with your lion.” Pigde complained but became to make her way over anyway.

Shiro’s lion slunk back into the shadows of the crater edges, moving as silently as possible. He’d managed to get Keith early on in the game, and just a little while ago he’d checked and found that the Red lion hadn’t been ‘released’ yet from jail. Which left Hunk and Lance. 

“COMBINE!” Shiro was shoved down as something rammed into his side and then climbed on top of him. On top of his lion.

“What th- Hunk?” The Yellow Paladin didn’t answer, just activated his thicker armor and dug his claws into the ground with Shiro still beneath him. There was a distinct feeling of satisfaction coming from him. “You know now that you’re touching me you have to go to jail, right?”

“You’ll have to make me.” Hunk replied stubbornly. 

“It’s cool Hunk, I’ve got them.” Lance’s smug voice came through the helmets and Shiro twisted his head - the Black Lion’s head - in the direction of the castle.

“Oh no you don’t.” Shiro moved around in an effort to get Hunk off, eventually using his wings to shoot out from under the yellow robot. “Hunk, get to the jail. Lance, Keith, Pidge: I’m coming for you.”

Ah, true fear coming from the younger paladins.

Shiro raced across the gray terrain, listening closely for the sound of the other three.

oOo

_ “Paladins? Isn’t it around time for dinner?”  _ Allura’s voice crackled into Shiro’s ear. He stopped from where he was with his teeth fastened on Keith’s right foreleg. Hunk had a good hold of the back of, pulling his away from the Red Lion, and Lance and Pidge were both doing their best to keep his wings under control. The game had devolved into just wrestling after a while and for it being four against one Shiro thought he was putting up a good fight. Black rumbled in agreement.

“Alright, you heard the Princess, it’s time to head back.” Shiro climbed back to his four feet and the other released him. 

“Aw c’mon, we were winning!” Lance whined.

“Dude, we basically won.” Hunk pointed out. 

“Next time, I think we should stay on Cops and Robbers.” Pidge said as the lions began the trek back to the castle. “I know we said no enhancements, but Hunk obviously disobeyed that rule so I want to see how well my hologram-camouflage can hold up against you guys.

“Well if we do this again, when it inventiable devolves into wrecking our lions with our own lions, I’m siding with Shiro. Let’s see how you guys take the two of us at once.” Shiro chuckled at Keith’s remark.

“Alright! Garrison Trio vs The Spaceman and The Dropout, you’re totally on.” Lance said enthusiastically and bumped his shoulder into Keith’s.

Back in the hangars, Shiro settled down into a sitting position and… opened his eyes. Which felt weird and wrong. Suddenly he wasn’t a giant living black lion robot, he was Shiro. Human-sized and piloting a giant living black lion robot. He released his hold on the controls. Some of the things Shiro had done required moving his hands to the other controls, but for the life of him he couldn’t remember actively doing so. At some point while he was out there, the disconnect between pilot and lion had faded. The Black Lion had moved like it was himself. Now that it was over, it was strange to say the least.

The Black Lion’s presence surrounded his mind.

He couldn’t wait for it to happen again.

**Author's Note:**

> so day 2 is a work in progress - as in i probably won't finish it for a while, but here's day two anyway! I hope you like :)


End file.
